This is true Joe, For most of us this is just a Hobby and is something that we injoy doing. I have been at this for over 25 years now. and I probably have about as much documentation put back as any other researcher here. And even tho some of it is documented still does not make it so. Each will need to weigh their info and go over it for themself. And do their Hobby as they see fit without someone else telling them how to do it or it will not be a fun Hobby. It will then become a Job. I have never received one penny for trying to help others. I am not in this for profit. We all need to be able to use the couch-L List without getting bashed every time some one make a post. If we use private mail then the others don't get the benifit from it. Bill Couch. > > This is true whether you are talking about internet or other sources. I'm > paying the price for some info I gathered back when I was a teenager just > starting in genealogy. I picked up some of the books on old tidewater > Virginia families published back in early 1900s and ASSUMED that these were > experienced genealogists and knew what they were talking about. Now I've > got all kinds of stuff on some of my lines that I don't have a clue whether > is true or not. > Internet hasn't changed anything other than make it faster to find stuff, > good and bad. > > Joe > > -----Original Message----- > From: Windwalker [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 2:56 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [COUCH] Phoebe Couch/Isaac Lewis-Elihue Couch/Mary Ann > Burns > > """check, and then double check, what you glean from anyone's research"""" > > ==== COUCH Mailing List ==== > Please note that this mailing list is operated by rootsweb and administered by a volunteer. It is not connected with the CouchGenWeb. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

Yes, this is a wonderful hobby and the day it becomes a job.....I resign! :-) Below is a sentimental piece that best describes to me what draws many of us into genealogy. I give this to people who yawn and roll their eyes when I mention genealogy.....like I did in younger years :-) Wish I knew who wrote it. The Storytellers..... We are the chosen. My feelings are in each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called as it were by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who we are and why we do the things we do? It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying we can't let this happen. The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers. That, is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. ( Author unknown) Kathleen Couch Latshaw Kentucky Couch Kin http://swapasource.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Couch" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 7:49 PM Subject: Re: [COUCH] Phoebe Couch/Isaac Lewis-Elihue Couch/Mary Ann Burns >> > Each will need to weigh their info and go over it for themself. And do > their Hobby as they see fit without someone else telling them how to do > it or it will not be a fun Hobby. It will then become a Job. > > Bill Couch.